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Boardwalk :: Forum List The Phoenix Quarter General Discussion

<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >> TMC   CCTV camera - 2006/05/15 20:34 This is perhaps the wrong forum for this post, but I feel I might gain some support here. Lewes Town Council and East Sussex Police recently installed a CCTV camera on the listed (Abbey National) building on the corner of Station Street and the High Street. The camera is the most inappropriate piece of hardware I have seen bolted to a listed building for some time. Upon checking to see whether this installation had consent, I discovered that permission was granted in 2000 and had therefore expired by the time the thing went up. Lewes Town Council will therefore have to reapply for planning permission to be granted retrospectively. I shall be objecting, and would be much if any of you civic minded types would consider doing same. It’s a very slim hope I’m afraid; as permission was granted before it is very unlikely that the District will come to a different view this time. But if enough people object, and given that now the thing is up all the world can see how horrible it is, you never know…   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. Marjorie Phillips   Re:CCTV camera - 2006/05/16 14:02 The CCTV has been present on the building for some years now - I believe that it was installed in the autumn of either 2000 or 2001. Maybe the recent scaffolding (and associated works) has highlighted its existence. The camera may have been changed for a more effective one as the one in situ (in recent years) has failed to monitor the excessive numbers of drivers turning right across the junction and the images are too poor to adequately monitor the shenanigans several nights a week outside the Kebab House.   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. TMC   Re:CCTV camera - 2006/05/16 18:29 I saw workmen on a cherrypicker installing it last month. If the camera is a replacement as you suggest, and is significantly different in design from the former version as I believe (because I never noticed the last one!), then it will require a new listed building consent. Installation without benefit of this consent is a criminal offence. The current camera is enormous, and comes with dangling wires and a huge bracket. There are two issues here that I object to: 1. Impact on a listed building / this stretch of the high street. The camera is the worst form of street clutter, and has an impact on views up Station Street, where it is silhouetted against the sky, and down Fisher Street. If a camera must be installed, then there are better places to mount it than on a listed building, and smaller units available. 2. The utility of such a camera in the first place. CCTV cameras have been shown to be effective in reducing thefts from vehicles in car parks. They are of very limited use in deterring drunk people from fighting each other. It’s not like the police will spend time studying video tapes, and trying to figure out just who was fighting who last Friday. If however the camera is exactly the same as a previous version, and I’ve just been unobservant, then there’s nothing that can be done in this case. Other than to be vigilant for planning notices so that we can prevent such a monstrosity from bring installed again.   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. Elinor   Re:CCTV camera - 2006/05/18 22:38 yes , its awful. Our Design and Conservation Officer cannot know the meaning of the word Conservation. I am not the only person who is becoming increasingly intolerant of what is happening to the Conservation Area. This does not mean that I want everything thatched, and period costume prescribed by law. I would recommend you ask for a copy of the Design/Conservation comments about this in the original application and see what was said. Does it actually achieve anything? Sounds like it doesnt.   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. Smiler   Re:CCTV camera - 2006/06/16 21:10 How can we have any respect for the planning system or indeed be expected to abide by the rules when they are flaunted with such regularity. I'm off to paint my front door pink with orange spots!   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum. Battered and Bruised   Re:CCTV camera - 2006/06/18 14:24 As someone who has suffered from the kind of behaviour CCTV cameras are installed to deter, I am very distressed to read about your (as you put it yourself) "increasingly intolerant" attitude towards this and, to be honest, virtually everything. The tone of the negative and often very aggressive comments on this forum is extremely worrying. Maybe you would all be better off in some fascist state where you could officially vent your anger on those with whom you disagree. For myself, I think if Lewes were to become more cosmopolitan, with plenty of places for young people to go, then the cultural divide we are experiencing nowadays would perhaps be reduced. Maybe the Phoenix Quarter would achieve that. But you seem determined to maintain a status quo which may be all right for you but has certainly proved not all right for others. I am very sorry you cannot be more tolerant and considerate of others, including Charles Style and those less fortunate than you, with whom you disagree etc. As I said - very disturbing and not at all pleasant. Maybe you should look in a mirror sometime.   | | You must login if you wish to contribute to this forum.

Boardwalk :: Forum List The Phoenix Quarter General Discussion

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